Was Jason Arday just the perfect victim?

[KellyK2026]

Surely I can’t be the only one that feels like Jason Arday was a victim, right? Yesterday he was found dead and I feel bad for him. Here’s the reasons why I think he was a victim:

1. It is absolutely insane to me that Cambridge University would appoint him as a Professor when he was in the early stages of his career. It’s practically unheard of. At any university you typically have to earn your dues (which means working as an academic for many years) OR do something truly special, like a Nobel Prize nomination, to be promoted to Professor. I cannot imagine the amount of pressure he had been under to prove himself and likely had a tremendous amount of imposter syndrome. Cambridge let him down.
2. I’ve worked in academia for many years, and let me tell you, academics are under a tremendous amount of pressure to publish. This pressure can compromise quality. Arday isn’t the first nor will he be the last to publish questionable papers.
3. As I’ve worked in academia for years, I’ve experienced academics make racist and sexist remarks first hand. One white academic I worked with got drunk at a work get together and started a rant about how Black people shouldn't be president (this was when Obama was in power), that Obama was a Muslim and interracial relationships were ‘disgusting’. What made this somewhat even worse was that this particular academic wrote about racism in the public sphere, so he profited from writing about Black struggles while harbouring these personal views. There was no repercussions for him, despite presenting himself as something other than what he was.
4. I’ve also been sexually assaulted at a conference by a male academic. No repercussions for him either and he no doubt pretends to be a feminist in his work.
5. I don’t think it’s in doubt that Arday had autism. Now I don’t know how it affected him personally, but, again, that must’ve been extremely difficult and perhaps even blurred what is and isn’t acceptable in higher education.
6. He was also cleared of plagiarism but, again, so many academics have plagiarised ideas and papers, but they haven’t been strung up like Arday has been.

So, long story short, I feel like Cambridge let him down. And I feel like he was targeted because there’s plenty of other examples but they never get called out and nobody cares. It was a witch hunt. But I’d be interested to hear what others have to say on this matter.

There’s also a video of his wife messing up the timeline so to speak about his mutism.

the Jussie Smollett of academia but it’s what’s going on behind the schemes that is emboldening many.

I think he felt he'd left himself nowhere to go. How do you recover after that, after doubling down for so long? Even without the media pressure, professionally and personally you look terrible.

Nail on head.

It’s all on him.

His statements were that of no wrongdoing on his part and stoked the witch hunt angle.

I thought he was just the right amount of narcissist to ride it out. Go to ground for a few years before making a comeback and insisting it was all a racist ploy. Jussie Smollett has been doing the podcast rounds insinuating just that.

I wish it didn’t end this way, on a human level, his family and friends must be bereft with grief.

I know. I have no idea how much they knew but imagine finding this many layers of deceit after the fact.

Having known a fantasist in real life, I’m not so sure JA had people THAT genuinely close to him.

You hear them spout XYZ nonsense claim and kind of roll your eyes, but you do keep an arm’s length because whilst their stories are “harmless” to you, you also know this person is full of shit so can’t be trusted but also a funny/witty/warm etc person you like having a drink with. But you don’t actually subscribe to their lies and go in head first; you keep your detachment about you.

I would be interested to see which friends/family do actually come forward publically and vouch for him/eulogise

I think he was definitely aware of what he was saying. He did say he was vulnerable, I wonder if he meant something other than his autism. I just don’t see someone who is ‘well’ lying about the things he did. I did actually know someone who claimed to be autistic and he was prone to grandiose lies, but he had a whole plethora of mental health issues on top of autism. I think he’s a very curious figure and I wish he was still around because perhaps, eventually, when he was in a better mental headspace, he could’ve helped unpick it.

Indeed.

it’ll be grieving all over again, the person you thought you knew and loved is gone and now the image they would have had is too, very sad.

How do you know he had all these diagnoses?

His marriage ended in 2019 and there doesn't seem to have been a current partner. He did cut quite a lonely figure in the end. Even the odious Huw Edwards, whose disgrace was on a whole other level and I am NOT comparing him to JA, was hastily shuttled off to the Priory by his wife, which probably saved his life. Where was JA's support network?

Because he showed me his medical record when I raised it.

Agree.
I couldn’t work out why his family haven’t done anything over the YEARS that he’s been lying!
Never mind just lying -but reporting people to the police for racism because they had the temerity to question his teaching/credentials!
I wouldn’t be able to stand by while my brother/husband/son/friend lied and lied to the extent JA did - mainly because I would know that at some point the whole house of lies would come tumbling down as they always do.
I can’t believe there’s a ‘go fund me’ for his funeral.
The man was on £200k a year and could afford to instruct very expensive lawyers to intimidate people who questioned him. Are you telling me the man wasn’t worth £5k at his death which would cover a funeral.
If the whole go fund me isn’t donated to some worthy charity -maybe supporting students at uni or perhaps one of the charities that he did his unbelievable running for- then I think that says a lot about the family.
I in all good conscience wouldn’t be able to keep it.

Yeah . Righty ho.

As far as I’m aware, it wasn’t set up by his family. It was set up by a friend of JA’s. I do think if people want to donate that’s up to them. Hopefully it’ll help his kids who now have to grow up without a father.

Course.

Yes.
Because of their father

You asked and I answered. Just because you can’t argue with that doesn’t mean it’s not true.

Yes, that’s what I said.

This is getting weirder by the minute

Again, you don’t need to respond. Your other comments have been deleted I noticed.

Two comments.
The rest stand.

I don’t believe for a nano second he was autistic.
It does the autistic community a huge disservice for people like you to say JA was autistic when there is no evidence to support that - apart from what he, a man who lied through his teeth, said.
He was a liar with a nasty streak.
If he hasn’t have been exposed I wonder how many people’s lives he would have tried to ruin with his accusations of racism which, as we know, can destroy careers.
He has left his children at higher risk of suicide themselves by his selfish cowardly action.

It's honestly the weirdest thread I've been on for a very very long time.